Lantern



Dec. 3, 1940. E. H. ADAMS, sR

LANTERN Filed Sept. 28, 1957 ffIVflZOli 5177662 HfidamJ Jr y M w 21% Hitorn 9y:

Patented Dec. 3, 1940 PATENT OFFICE LANTERN Ernest H..Adams, Sr.,Huntington Park; Calif.

" Application September 28, 1937, Serial No. 166,105

, 4 Claims.

My invention pertains particularly to a lantern designed especially forservice as a warning or danger light for various construction work onroads, highways, side-walks or the like or where any such red lightlanterns are used and left over night, usually without any guard orwatchman on duty. Practically all construction companies using lanternsfor this purpose find that the lanterns have the coal oil poured out andstolen by petty thieves and hence the lantern becomes extinguishedduring the periods of darkness, subjecting such companies to damageclaims for accidents caused by the lanterns becoming extinguished. Myinvention therefore comprehends a construction of the *oil reservoir ofthe lantern whereby oil cannot be readily poured out of the lanternunless the wick assembly is removed. There is also a considerablebreakage of the globes due to these being improperly protected andmoreover the globes'are somewhat expensive to replace, thereforemyinvention ineludes removable glass panels, these being eachcomparatively inexpensive and the maintenance man may readily carry aconsiderable number of these to replace individual broken panels.

Another feature of my invention'which is opera-tive to deter theft ofthe lanterns is that I provide a partially open suspension eye for thelantern whereby such lantern may only be carried on the finger or a rodand cannot be suspended on a small device such as a nail, this takingthe place of the ordinary bail and as it is inconvenient to suspend thelantern, I fil'ld there is less petty thieving of these types oflanterns. Moreover the present lanterns do not provide any conspicuousspace for the name of the owner of pose.

Other features of myinvention include an im- I proved air draft for theburner to supply air to the wick, the manner of. hinging the chimneypart of the lantern to the oil reservoir and also of hinging orattaching the cap to the chimney or stack part ofthe lantern.

My invention is illustrated in connection with the accompanying drawing,in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the lantern taken '24, terminating at theopen end 25.

substantially in the direction of thearrow l of Fig. 4.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l in thedirection of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3- of Fig; 1 in the directionof the arrows, omitting the base or reservoir portion of the lantern.

Fig. 4 is a plan showing the reservoir and burner portion of the lanterntaken in the direction of the arrow 4 omitting the frame of a chimney.

Fig. dis a vertical transverse section on the line 55 of Fig.4 in thedirection of the arrows showing the air supply for the wick burner, thburner being removed. l r

Fig; 6 is a vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4 in the directionof the arrows, the burner beingagain removed.

Fig. 7 is an elevation partly broken away of part of the burner toshow'the air circulation for I the wick.

The oil filling construction which also prevents draining oil from thereservoir is substantially as follows, designatedby the assembly numeralH. Theoil reservoir I2 is of a conventional type having a bottom 3, acircular side wall 14, a top [5 with a cone shaped upwardly extendingsection It and a neck l1 through which the wick extends. A sleeve I8extends upwardly from the top and is secured thereto.

A filler tube 29 has an upper end 2! which extends through an opening inthe top and is secured thereto to prevent leakage, this being threadedas indicated at 22 for attachment of a closure plug. The tube has avertical downwardly extending portion 23 below the top and from thisthere is a laterally extending tubular arm The filler end is on one sideof the reservoir and the open end 25 located in a remote positionleaving a clearance through the neck I! for the wick. The open end islocated above the bottom as. indicated by the measurement numeral 26. Itis also spaced from the top as indicated by the measurement line 21 andfrom the Wall as indicated by the measurement line 28.

By this construction when the burner and wick assembly is in place, thefuel oil cannot be poured out of the end 2! after removal of the plug bytilting or inclining the reservoir, for when this is tilted up toposition the end 2i in a low position, the oil' level, unless of coursethe lantern is absolutely full, will be below the open end 25, hence theoil cannot flow through this end and the tubular arm 24. Of course ifthe lantern is completely turned upside down, the oil would leak outthrough the wick opening but the petty thieving of oil is usually bypersons endeavoring to pour the oil out of the filler tube or openingafter removing the plug and this is prevented by my construction.

The air supply assembly designated by the numeral 35 for the burnerassembly hastwo air inlet tubes 36, each of which has an upright portion31 and a horizontal portion 38, the horizontal portion extending throughthe openings 39 in the sleeve l8 and positioned contiguous to the coneportion I6 of the top. It will be noted that the horizontal sections 38of the two opposite air tubes are not directly opposite but are slightlyofiset as shown in Fig. 4. Therefore these discharge air into the sleeve[8 and develop a circular motion of the air in'this sleeve.

The wick mounting is somewhat conventional and designated by the numeral46. This has a top 4| with a slot 42 through which the wick 43 extends,the wick passing downwardly through a flattened wick tube 44. The lowerstructure 45 of the burner is shaped to fit in the neck I1, this havinga snug fit. A skirt 46 fits on the outside of. the sleeve and a shaft 41for raising and lowering the wick has an operating head 48. The shaftextends through slots leading from the upper edge of the sleeve l8 andalso leading upwardly from the lower edge of the skirt 46, this beingsubstantially conventional. An air inlet control ring 49 is formedintegral with the lower portion 45 'of the burner structure and has aseries of air apertures 50. Thesecommunicate between the space 5|defined by the skirt 46 and the sleeve I 8 and conduct the air whichflows in through the air inlet tubes 35 upwardly to the wick and as thisair has a swirl, such swirl is continued upwardly in the upper portion4|] of the burner cap and flows around the wick, the slot 42 conformingto the usual practice and being considerably larger than the crosssection of the wick. This develops improved burning qualities of the oilfrom the wick.

The chimney construction of the lantern designated by the assemblynumeral 55 includes a bottom ring 56 which is hingedat 51 to one side ofthe reservoir H and at the opposite side may be caught by a latch 58,this being of a conventional type. A plurality of spaced vertical legs59 extend upwardly from the ring 56 and are secured to a circulardiaphragm 60 which has a central opening 6| for the burner and aperforated annular section 62 to provide an up-draft of air. A pluralityof channel type of stiles 63 extends upwardly from the diaphragm 6|],terminating at a band 64 from which there are short upright sections 65leading to a top ring 66. The lid or cover 61 is connected by a hinge 68to the top ring and is secured to this ring on the opposite side by aspring latch or the equivalent. The suspension hook 1D has two sideplates H forming a substantially circular eye 12 with an opening 13 atthe top. This opening prevents hanging the lantern on a nail, wire orthe like and for carrying the lantern it is either necessary to insertthe fingers through the eye I2 or to string a series of lanterns on abar or pipe. On account of the lantern lacking a facility for hangingthe same, the theft of the lantern is discouraged.

A series of glass panels or windows 15 are formed of elongated strips ofglass fitted in marginal guide grooves 16 on the inside of the verticalstiles 63. These may be inserted from the top inside of the top ring 66and the band 64. They rest at the bottom on the diaphragm 60 outside ofthe perforated section 62. This construction therefore allows readyinserting and removing of the glasses and facilitates change from adanger signal such as red to clear transparent glass to afiordvisibility. Another characteristic of my invention is making the stiles63 on the outside with afiat surface indicated at 11 and of somewhatsoft material so that by means of a letter die, the name of the owner ofthe lamp may be, impressed on one or more stiles. By having thisimpressed in the metal and on a number of stiles, it does not matterwhether an attempt is made to paint over the name as it will usuallyshow on one or more of the stiles. Thus by having the name of the ownerclearly and conspicuously presented on the lantern, a theft of thelantern is discouraged.

Various changes may be made in the details of the construction withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In a lantern having an oil reservoir with a wick and burner assembly,a chimney construction including a bottom ring, a plurality of spacedlegs extending upwardly therefrom and connected to a diaphragmconstruction encircling part of the burner and wick, a plurality ofparallel stiles extending upwardly from the diaburner assembly, achimneyextending thereabove, a cover secured to the chimney, a structureforming an eye on the upper end of the ,cover, said eye having anopening at the top,

the space formed by the said opening being less than the space acrossthe eye.

4. In a lantern having an oil reservoir with an annular flat top surfaceand a burner and wick assembly positioned centrally of such annularsurface combined with a chimney construction including a bottom ringhinged to one side of the reservoir and constructed and adapted to reston the fiat annular surface, a plurality of spaced legs extendingupwardly from the bottom ring, a transverse annular diaphragm connectedto the legs and encircling the burner and wick assembly, a plurality ofparallel stiles extending upwardly from the diaphragm and connectedtherewith, each stile having a pair of channel guides with an outerexposed flat surface, a top ring at the upper end of the stiles havingan opening positioned outwardly from the channel guides, planeglasspanels fitted in the guides between contiguous stiles, the saidpanels being insertable and removable adjacent the opening of the upperring and resting at the bottom on the annular diaphragm.

ERNEST H. ADAMS. SR.

